The Dragon's Prize Read online

  The mayor had her by one elbow and the leader of his mercenary company had her by the other. The mayor's grip was rough and ungentle, but not very strong. By contrast, the mercenary’s grip felt like it would crush her bones. She tried to complain, but they’d gagged her quite thoroughly, and all she could do was mumble and growl at them through the foul-tasting cloth.

  When they reached the central square, only a block away from the gate that looked onto the forest, there were more people gathered there than Mira thought could fit in the city. They thronged in the side streets, crowded in second-story balconies, and stood everywhere they could except between her and the gates.

  She guessed they were used to this, but she didn’t know what was going on.

  Her captors threw her roughly to the ground in the middle of the square, and she barely managed to catch herself. The cobbles were rough and cold and between the treatment, her circumstances and the pain, she felt like crying.

  “People of Velmar!” The mayor jumped up onto the fountain and shouted so everyone could hear him. People tried to surge closer to the middle of the square from where they watched at the sidelines, and guards shoved them back. There were at least half a dozen in the square, armed with swords but not using them yet. “This traitor has come to destroy our way of life!”

  He was doing a great job of that himself.

  “She and her friend came to destroy our way of life! They have angered the troll and now they must pay!”

  The crowd thundered in response. Mira couldn’t believe they were buying this. Angered the troll?

  “Now! Restitution must be paid! The troll must be appeased!”

  The crowd roared.

  “We will give it this woman, this traitor, and perhaps we shall be spared its wrath!”

  Applause.

  “Trust in me, and Velmar will be safe!” Applause. “I am the way forward!” Cheering. “I can lead us out of this darkness!” Roaring. “I will find a way to destroy this troll and bring peace! Happiness! Well-being!” Wild cheering “We don’t need outsiders! Velmar will fend for itself!”

  BOOM!

  Suddenly the crowd went silent. Terrified faces turned towards the gate, where the boom came from. The troll? Mira started crying. Pride be damned! This was not fair! She and Sandra were here to help these people! If only the gag weren’t in her mouth, she could tell them!

  BOOM!

  Closer this time, like the troll was slowly walking towards the gate. It sounded like it was at the edge of the forest.

  “It’s coming here!” Someone in the crowd shouted. Panicked murmurs spread through the square like an inferno. “It’s coming for us!”

  “Guards!” The mayor shouted to be heard above the rising din. “Shoot it! Drive it off!”

  All of the torches carried by guards at the towers were snuffed out, one by one.

  BOOM!

  The entire side of the city was dark. Not even moonlight illuminated it.

  BOOM!

  Almost at the gate! Mira struggled to her feet and tried to run. Strong hands, mercenary hands, grabbed her and hauled her back.

  “You’re not going anywhere.” A cruel whisper in her ear.

  “What’s going on?” The mayor leaned down to whisper at the mercenary captain who held Mira so the crowd couldn’t hear.

  “I don’t know! It’s supposed to wait in the forest.”

  “This is your fault. Why aren’t the torches lit?”

  “They were!”

  BOOM!

  The gates shook as something powerful crashed into them. The timbers rattled and the bar holding the gate shut shattered, sending splinters flying down the street. Mira closed her eyes tightly, not wanting to see what was there.

  BOOM!

  The gates exploded inward, and the torches of the town illuminated the figure standing beyond. Gasps filled the square. The mercenary’s hands weakened in fright. Mira thought she might have a chance to run now, but couldn’t. Terror rooted her to the spot.

  Finally she couldn’t take it anymore, and she opened her eyes to get a look at the creature which would be her doom.

  *

  Sandra strode confidently through the gates into the silence beyond. Thousands of eyes were looking at her, wide and expectant. She had a troll head in each hand and wore the paladin’s sword slung horizontally across the top of her hips, at the back, so the magical glow was clear to anyone who looked at her. She held her head high and refused to meet the gaze of any of the mercenaries staring at her with a mixture of fear and hatred.

  The fear was good. It meant her little trick with the thunderstones was paying off. She'd always wondered what a small stone whose only magic was to make a loud noise would be good for.

  Her eyes went immediately to Mira.

  She was alive!

  Sandra tried not to let it show as relief flooded through her, warm and immediate. The entire time she’d been afraid that her ruse would cost Mira her life. With that no longer hanging over her, she felt like she could handle anything else this night threw at her.

  “What is the meaning-!?” The mayor started to shout as Sandra walked into the square and threw the troll heads to the ground at his feet.

  She didn’t let him finish.

  “People of Velmar!” She leapt up onto the edge of the fountain in the square so they could hear her better. The mayor, also standing up there, glared at her. Something about the steel in the gaze she focused on him made him back off and get down. “The mayor has lied to you!”

  Angry mutters raced through the crowd. Sandra was willing to bet they’d been thinking that already.

  “He takes your taxes to buy these mercenaries, to what? Protect you from the trolls?”

  Some people muttered in agreement. They weren’t sure where she was going, but she had asked a question.

  “The trolls work for him! They terrorize you so he can line his pockets!”

  A growing tide of anger rippled out from the square at those words.

  “No more! The trolls are dead!” She kicked one of the heads for good measure. It rolled into the center of the square and stopped with its lifeless eyes staring upward. Someone gasped. “Throw off your oppression!”

  The crowd started to surge forward, pressing up against the barrier of mercenaries. The mayor and his daughters were retreating throughout Sandra’s speech and now stood with a small circle of guards around them.

  “Guards!” The mayor shouted. Sandra turned to look at him. There was a wild energy in his eyes that made her think she knew what he was going to say next. “Kill her!”

  Sandra was already drawing her sword when he said it.

  Her first slash cut through the gag in Mira’s mouth. It was a dangerous maneuver, and one she probably wouldn’t have tried in any other circumstance.

  “Sandra!” Mira tore the gag out of her mouth and barely restrained herself from hugging her friend.

  They both saw the more immediate threat: the mercenaries were drawing swords. The ones up on the roofs were knocking arrows. The square was a kill zone and Sandra and Mira were in the middle of it.

  The crowd’s anger turned to panic. They fled.

  Sandra jumped down off the fountain and ran down the nearest alley, one hand holding the dead paladin’s sword, the other holding Mira’s upper arm. The first mercenary that tried to get in her way she stabbed through the stomach, then thrust away from her with a swift kick. Magic made swinging the sword easier, blows fall harder and the edge feel sharper. It slid into and out of the guard with almost no effort, and then he was out of her mind as he staggered away bleeding.

  “Get his bow!” Sandra shouted as she slashed at the next one. He managed to get out his sword in time to block the blow. Sandra kept rushing forward, punched him with her mailed fist and stamped hard on his instep. He howled in pain and staggered out of the way, which was enough for Sandra and Mira to get by.

  “Stay behind me.” They were in the alley now, and Sandra whirled to face
the street. From here only a couple of archers had a vantage point on them, and the mouth of the alley was small enough that the forces on the ground would have to face her two at a time. “We back up toward that house, got it?”

  “Got it.” Mira wasted no time on sentimentality. She already had a bolt knocked in the crossbow and was taking a bead on an archer standing on top of the nearest inn. The mercenary was taking careful aim, hindered by the throng of his companions surging toward Sandra’s position and the darkness on the street. He, on the other hand, was alone and framed against the dark sky by torch light.

  The crossbow shuddered in Mira’s grip and a bolt hummed through the air, inches above Sandra’s head. The archer screamed and toppled sideways off the top of the inn, falling two stories to hard cobbles. Mira was already winching the crossbow’s mechanism for the next shot.

  While Mira was shooting the archer, Sandra drew a short sword in her left hand. Two weapon fighting was not normally her preference, but in this situation it seemed appropriate. The sword gave her better defensive options than an empty hand, and was more dangerous than a fist or shield.

  The first mercenary to approach her after her blistering charge through the square came fast and hard. A battle cry poured from his throat and he came in with a heavy overhand chop.

  “Really?” Sandra didn’t think he heard her.

  She blocked with the paladin’s sword, using the extra ‘oomph’ from the magic to help deflect his blow to the side instead of taking the entire force herself. His momentum carried him forward into Sandra, where a short sword stabbed up and under his ribs directly into his heart. Hot blood gushed forth, spilling over her glove and onto the front of her breastplate. His shout turned to a gasp.

  Sandra stepped backward, propelled by the force of the attack, then held him upright for a moment. Two crossbow bolts zinged across the square and hit him in the back.

  “Thanks.”

  She shoved him to the side, then blocked a more careful attack from her left with the short sword. She parried a second attack from the right, backed up a step, and kicked the merc on the right. He responded with an ‘oomph’ and smartly gave ground, otherwise her thrust with the paladin’s blade would have gotten him in the gut.

  The one on the left brought his sword back around. Sandra ducked under, then back-stepped. A crossbow bolt split the air beside Sandra’s head and buried itself in the right merc’s eye. He screamed and fell backward, fountaining blood into the air and clutching at his face.

  “Nice.”

  “I thought so.”

  Another one replaced him. Sandra blocked another two attacks. This time her counter got through and sliced someone’s neck. Normally the chainmail at his throat would have saved him, but the magic on the paladin’s sword was enough to pierce through to the tender flesh beyond.

  She stepped sideways away from the next attack, then backed up another step. Mira was doing quite well paying attention and managed not to be in the way as Sandra went back.

  Sandra fell into the cadence of battle, a dance that lead them ever farther down the alley and toward the dubious safety of a building.

  Block, block. Stab. Dodge, back-step. Arrow.

  Parry, parry. Riposte. Away, back. Crossbow.

  It made haunting music.

  Clang, clang. Scream! Rustle, shuffle scream!

  Sandra wondered where they all came from. Clang. For every one she and Mira killed there was another. Clang. Each guard that fell was replaced by another, angry and ready for a fight. Scream. They were doing well. Rustle. She didn’t know how long she could maintain it. Shuffle. The house seemed so far away. Scream!

  About halfway down the alley, the two fresh guards facing Sandra backed off before she could block their attacks. Sandra huffed and puffed, blowing clouds of white-cold steam into the chill night air. She didn’t particularly want to press the attack and the break was welcome.

  “I think they’re out of archers.” Mira sounded hopeful. Half of her arrows found targets in the rooftops while the other half hit ground troops. If she could focus entirely on the ones on the ground it would help.

  “Good thing I’ve still got mine.”

  “Flirt.”

  “Raaaaaah!” Charging down the alley came a merc with a flail. The others got out of his way until there were only cobbles between he and Sandra.

  Blocking was no longer an option.

  Sandra dodged out of the way of his first swing. He got too close for her to stab so she punched him in the face. He humphed and rolled with it, bringing the flail up so that the heavy metal ball at the end would strike Sandra in the face.

  She backed up, narrowly avoiding having her bones cracked by the blow.

  Sandra thrust forward with the short sword, but he was wearing a breastplate. The solid metal deflected her blow without any effort on his part, and she gave ground again to the flail as it came back down.

  The ground shook with the flail’s impact, and Sandra feared what would happen if it hit her.

  His kick was unexpected. She grunted and fell back into Mira, who wasn’t expecting it either. She got tangled up in the ridiculous dress Mira was wearing, and the next swingfrom the flail hit Sandra’s chest. The breastplate absorbed most of the blow, but the force of it threw her to the side into a building. Heavy bricks cushioned her fall, then a fist hit her in the face. She heard the flail whirling through the air toward her head and knew that staying where she was would be a bad idea.

  She surged forward, throwing the merc off balance and causing the flail to narrowly miss her head. Sandra kept moving until she forced him into the building on the other side, driving her knee between his legs for good measure.

  He grunted.

  “Sandra!”

  Sandra ducked. A sword whistled over her head and stabbed the flail-wielding mercenary in the eye.

  “Oh! Jake!” The merc who did the stabbing looked shocked. Sandra slashed him across the middle of the back with her blade and backed up again.

  “We’re there.” Mira’s voice cut through the sounds of battle and gave Sandra something to cling to. They were there! If they could just get into the building, they might be safe.

  “Open the door.” Sandra just had to hold out a little longer…

  Two more mercs were coming down the alley, swords drawn. Behind them was an endless sea of more. Would they ever stop coming?

  Sandra blocked, dodged, blocked, swung! The guard backed out of the way. Were they getting better, or was she getting more tired? Maybe both…

  Click.

  Despite the raucous shouts of the guards further down the alley and the sounds of battle, Sandra heard the lock in the door click.

  Mira jumped inside the building and Sandra was just behind her, slamming the door and throwing her shoulder against it before the guards could come through. They tried. The door shuddered with the impact of two people running into it from the other side, but it held.

  “Mira!” Sandra turned around and braced her back against the door, with her legs out at an angle so they could help reinforce her. Each renewed blow of guards against the door sent a shock through her body. At least they weren’t coming through!

  “Sandra!” Mira was breathless, holding the crossbow with one hand and her last bolt in the other. “Nice rescue.”

  “I thought so.

  “Definitely style points.” Mira leaned against a nearby weapons rack, sucking in deep gulps of air. “The rescuing part could use some work…”

  “Don’t I know it.”

  Wait.

  Weapon rack?

  Sandra looked hard at the thing Mira was leaning against. It was filled with crossbows! And bolts! Sandra couldn’t believe their luck…

  “Hey, start… oof.” That was a heavy one. “Start loading those.”

  “Hmm?”

  “Load a bunch of crossbows, then instead of winching it every time you can just shoot, drop, shoot, etc.”

  “Oh!” Mira loaded her cross bow,
then set it on the ground and started doing the same with the others.

  “Are you hurt?” Sandra gave Mira a visual once over. She didn’t look hurt, but her white dress was stained with so much blood that it was hard to tell.

  “I’m okay… are you?”

  Sandra thought about it. She had a cut from the punch and some minor scrapes and bruises from the fighting so far. Nothing big.

  “I think I’m okay… here.” Sandra rummaged in her pack, being careful to keep her weight against the door as the mercs kept trying to get through. “Come here and drink this.”

  Mira stepped forward, still loading a crossbow with her hands, and opened her mouth. Sandra smiled and poured a cure minor wounds potion in. Immediately Mira’s eyes went wide and she coughed in surprise.

  “Woah!” Mira blinked a few times to clear her vision, then felt around her forehead. A small cut she got who-knows-where was gone. “What was that?”

  “Good, huh?” Sandra chugged one herself. Immediately she felt better. Her breathing slowed, her heart stopped racing, and strength returned to her muscles. She felt like she’d barely been warmed up, rather than fighting down a stinking alley for half an hour. “The paladin had it.”

  “Paladin?” Mira had ten crossbows loaded now, and there were no more in the rack.

  “Nevermind. What are you wearing, by the way?”

  “Like it?”

  “Not very practical.”

  “It’s the very latest in troll-sacrifice fashion.” Mira spun in a flouncy circle.

  “I see.” Sandra couldn’t help but laugh, especially given the bright splashes of gore across the dress. “I don’t think they’re going to give up…” The door was still being banged upon.

  “Yeah…”

  “Okay.” Bang. “Here’s the plan: I’m going to charge through the door and kill them until I run out.”